A Personal Experience With Bath Salts by Eliza Player

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH BATH SALTS BY ELIZA PLAYER

Written by Eliza Player on Tuesday, 03 April 2012. Posted in Voices in Recovery



When I started this focus on bath salts, almost all the information I had came directly from news stories, or other second hand sources. I began asking around for personal stories. I did not talk to anyone who had actually done the drug, but I did get a lot of personal experience from a friend whose son had taken the drug several times.

My friend’s son was no newcomer to the drug life, and he would take whatever he could get his hands on. His drug of choice was heroin, and he often mixed the opiate with cocaine or meth. My friend has seen her son under the influence of various substances, and she has witnessed his erratic behavior for years. But, she hates bath salts worse than any of them.

When her son first discovered bath salts, he decided to give them a try. (As many of us would have also done while still immersed in active addiction.) Almost immediately he was twitching and sweating, while he became increasingly paranoid. He became fixated on finding something in his bedroom to the point he was unable to control himself and the fixation. He tore his room apart, removing all the dresser drawers and searching all the drawers over and over again. He ended up splitting open the mattress and box spring, digging around inside looking for this item. His room was completely destroyed. He did not sleep for the next three nights.

Another time, her son became obsessed with electrical cords of all types: extension cords, USB cords, phonecords, phone chargers, and even the cords plugging the television into the wall. He went frantically around the house, pulling out all the cords he could find. They were on a big pile in the living room floor when my friend asked her son what he was doing. He told her he did not know.

On another incident, she recalls him crawling out of his skin. He paced around the house, peeking out the windows every five minutes, convinced the cops were looking for him. He picked his face until it was one big scab. The paranoia of the cops got more and more intense, so my friend decided to take him to a hotel, thinking he would be more comfortable there. The entire ride, he looked out the window, convinced the cops were following them. When they got to the hotel, the paranoia just got worse. He stayed up all night, searching the room for the “bugs” the cops had planted. When my friend woke in the morning, all the appliances had been pulled away from the walls; all the items in the kitchenette were pulled out and laid on the floor. There was not a piece of the room that had been left untouched.

The most severe incident her son had with bath salts occurred while he was living on the streets. He had very little money, so he bought bath salts. She thinks that he had become so susceptible to the drugs effects, and he immediately went into a psychotic episode. He stood out as the only white person in a gang-infested Latino area, eyes wide and crazed. He remembers mothers pulling their kids into the house when they saw him. He thought the cops had him surrounded, trying to Taser him, so he called 911. When help arrived, they took him to the hospital. It took a week to get him stabilized. The nurse told my friend her son was one of the lucky ones. The nurse had seen patients permanently damaged by bath salts; to the point they would never be able to live on their own again.

My friend asked her son why he would do it again when he had already suffered so much each time he took them. He told her he did not want to take them, and he had sworn he would never do them again. But something always changed to make him think it would be okay…just one more time. I have heard this story over and over again.

He is in treatment right now. We are all praying for him.

My friend also wanted to reiterate that bath salts and spice are not the same thing. I will actually delve into Spice a little tomorrow, explaining the difference in these synthetic drugs. These drugs are often lumped together in news stories, and even in some legislation. It is important for people to understand that these drugs are not the same. Spice is synthetic marijuana. Bath salts are more like synthetic meth, and they can easily cause hallucinations and psychosis. The danger of thinking the two are the same comes when one kid sees a friend on Spice, and then purchase bath salts, thinking it is the same. It is very, very different.

Amazing Race Co-Producer Believes She Was "Spared to Warn Youth About Drugs"

AMAZING RACE CO-PRODUCER BELIEVES SHE WAS "SPARED TO WARN YOUTH ABOUT DRUGS"

on Wednesday, 18 April 2012. Posted in Breaking News



Kathryne Fuller was left partially paralyzed after taking cocaine in her hotel room with co-worker Jeff Rice, while the two were working in Uganda, making arrangements for the television series, "The Amazing Race." The cocaine they ingested is believed to have been contaminated.

According to IOL News, Kathryne believes that God spared her life for a purpose- to teach young people about the dangers of drugs. She will be speaking from her hotel bed, for the first time since the incident seven weeks ago. She claims she is not an addict, and tried a line with her co-worker. She said this was only the second time she tried cocaine, and it left her paralyzed on her right side and confined to a wheelchair.

She was taken to the hospital after she was found unconscious, along with Jeff Rice. Jeff did not survive, and Kathryne was held in a Ugandan hospital for two weeks until she appeared in court and plead guilty to cocaine possession. Her father helped her get home to South Africa as quickly as possible, and he has been at her bedside since the incident.

She hopes she can help young people realize that even dabbling with drugs can be dangerous. Kathryne said, "All I know is God has got a plan for my life- whether it is to go and speak to young people about drugs or something like that. We took cocaine. It was my second time. Don't do drugs because as exciting as it may seem, it is really not worth it. I already know people who have stopped using drugs because of what happened."

Kathryne describes Jeff Rice as a recovered cocaine addict, who had not habitually used in the weeks up to the incident. She claims to have blacked out that night and has no memory of the incident. She was heavily sedated at the hospital, which she believes helped her deal with the trauma.

Kathryne Fuller claims she is feeling better, but she could remain in the hospital for months. There was a lot of nerve damage, and she had blood clots in her arms and legs, which caused the paralysis. She is now out of danger, regarding the threat of an aneurysm.

Kathryne hopes to eventually complete her masters degree in health promotion, and she plans to get back to work on her dissertation as soon as she can. She also plans to get back into her local church, from which she strayed in recent years. Kathryne Fuller now feels like her life serves a higher purpose.
Item Tag: cocaine, Jeff Rice, Kathryne Fuller, The Amazing Race

Free Family Seminar Presented by Livingrin "Was my child schmacked?"

Was my child schmacked?"

Free Family Seminar address the challenges of keeping adolescents from addiction





Did you see those "schmacked" Internet videos of teens from our area - seemingly celebrating drinking and drugs? Plenty of parents have wondered if their offspring were in those videos, or in any way tempting addiction and a host of bad choices.



For parents asking how to understand & help their teen, a free seminar offer information and reassurance.

Counselors and researchers will talk with parents, clinicians and educators in an informal, confidential setting.

10AM-Noon, Saturday April 28. Refreshments provided, with free parking and a private entrance.




Haverford Counseling Center

355-A W. Lancaster Ave. 19020.



No charge, but you can RSVP or get more information:

610-642-4604 x 302.

12 STEPPING TO RECOVERY DAILY THOUGHT! 4-17-12

STEP 2
  We came to believe a power grater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.


        In my addiction came embarrassment and shame ,and this usually happens when your caught in addiction.We do our best to cover stuff up with lies and half truths in a useless attempt to preserve our relationships.But in the end , our intimacy with others is destroyed.We need to be honest with our self and with others and work at reestablishing our relationship.Some of the devastation we leave behind can only be repaired once we have surrendered to GOD and start reading the instructions ,on how to to live(BIBLE).We must first realize what we have done this far hasn't worked that's why step 2 is a must for success.

Whip-Its Again Becoming Popular Among Teens, Experts Say

By Join Together Staff | March 28, 2012 | 2 Comments | Filed in Drugs, Young Adults & Youth


Whip-Its—small canisters filled with nitrous oxide—are once again becoming popular among teens and young adults as a recreational drug, ABC News reports.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Whip-Its are the most popular inhalant among young adults.

“What makes them really popular is they’re easily accessible,” William Oswald, founder of the Summit Malibu drug treatment center, told ABC News. “You can get them at a head shop, you can get it out of a whipped cream bottle.”

Inhaling nitrous oxide, either from a whipped cream canister, or a nitrous tank, leads to a high that can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Many online retailers sell large quantities of Whip-Its, without asking the purchaser’s age or what they will be using the product for, according to the news report.

Inhalants such as Whip-Its can be deadly. Dr. Westley Clark, Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at SAMHSA, said inhaling nitrous oxide can cut off oxygen to the brain. This can cause severe consequences for the heart, nervous system and organs, he said.

Heroin Use Increasing Across Ohio

By Join Together Staff | March 28, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related & Drugs

Heroin use has increased so much in Ohio that users say it is “falling out of the sky,” according to a new report by state health officials. Children as young as 13 are starting to use the drug, they said.

Heroin’s popularity is increasing because it is seen as less expensive and easier to obtain than prescription opioids, according to theAssociated Press. Many heroin users responding to a state surveysaid increased demand for the drug was due to the reformulation of OxyContin, which makes it more difficult to abuse.

The report, released by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, said availability of heroin in Cleveland is considered to be at epidemic levels. The survey found an increase in heroin abuse across the state during the previous six months.

The state’s Department of Health reports that heroin-involved deaths increased from 16 percent (233) of all drug overdoses in 2008, to 20 percent (283) in 2009, to a high of 22 percent (338) in 2010.

At the Recovery Center in Lancaster, Ohio, an area considered to be the “hotspot” for heroin use in the state, most of the 360 patients are addicted to painkillers or heroin, according to CEO Trisha Saunders. She told the AP that most patients who are addicted to heroin started with painkillers. “They say, `I never thought I’d switch from taking a pill to putting a needle in my arm,’” Saunders said.

The Department of Justice 2011 National Drug Threat Assessmentfound increased heroin-related overdoses have been reported in cities in at least 30 states.

The report notes, “New users frequently overdose because they are unfamiliar with their tolerance levels; users resuming heroin use after prolonged absences often restart at their prior dosage level, even though their tolerance may have declined in the interim.”